The teachings of a child...

Emily and I finished reading the Ben Okri book yesterday. Personally I reckon it was a great success. I judge this by the fact that Emily seemed to be sleeping particularly soundly as I orated the final chapter. Whilst quality of sleep does seem to be a pretty good litmus test for Emily's enjoyment of literature, I am not sure Mr Okri would like his books to be rated on how well people slept through them.

However, Okri completed, I pondered on what we should read next. One of my favourite books is 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho. It's a beautiful story about following your dream and the adventures to be had along the way. Pretty apt I thought for our dad-daughter reading time at the beginnings of her life. Half an hour of searching through the bookshelves and Coelho was not to be found, but I did unearth two copies of 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran instead. Faced with the prospect of an ever-awakening baby I decided to try and mix in some of Gibran's wisdom into our sleep-learning sessions. 

Gibran however did not fair at all well on Emily's Sleeping Literature Scale, and soon I had a fully roused baby in need of amusement and not in the least interested in Gibran's wisdom. Emergency action was required and so I deftly switched from literature to music with 'silly daddy singing' being one of many talents I have recently discovered. Emily appears to like this, but given that she is currently somewhat of a captive audience I will reserve full judgment on the matter until she can at least crawl and vote with her feet. I also took the opportunity to wave the silver box that flashes in front of Emily again, with some not bad results...

Emily quietly entranced by Daddy's virtuoso rendition of 'Twinkle, Twinkle...'

Later on, whilst pondering where my copy of The Alchemist had gone, I looked up what Coelho had to say about children. I came across these marvellous words he wrote, 

“A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires." 

This got me thinking about the past 2 weeks and what lies before us. 

Certainly Emily has brought new happiness and joy into our lives. I take such delight in the curl of her lip or the touch of her hand like it's the first time I have ever seen or felt them. The complexities of the world seem to fade away in the marvel and innocence of her reactions to what to us seems quite ordinary.

And certainly I am being kept more than busy. There is a whole list of new things that need to be done and a longer list of old things that still haven't yet been done. Where do the days go? Tanya is doing an absolutely fantastic job breast-feeding and Emily put on a pound in the first week. I on the other hand have lost four pounds.

 

And as for demanding? Well our beautiful wee girl has been quite demanding tonight. Hence why it is 2.30am and I am still writing the blog. If she puts her mind to something we don't stand a chance. Tonight she was determined to stay awake. I put it down to her mothers strength of character. Mr Coelho says all children are like it. Whoever is right doesn't really matter...I'm just hoping she gives in quite soon so that we all get some sleep.